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Below are the first lines of the books I finished reading in September. I’ve had less time this month for book-reading, partly due to the crossroads mentioned in the first lines of Book 1 in my list. It seems fitting that four of the five books this month are rather dark. That reminds me, I still haven’t put up any Halloween decorations. Maybe next week.
Book 1
Foreword
America is at a crossroads. A country that once stood as the global symbol of democracy has been teetering on the brink of authoritarianism.
Book 2
Siobhán O’Sullivan hurried through lush green fields, adjusting every so often for the bumps and dips of the terrain, imagining that from high above, Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, must look like an ocean of green, rendering her a mere speck at sea.
Book 3
One day, when he was naughty, Mr. Bunnsy looked over the hedge into Farmer Fred’s field and saw it was full of fresh green lettuces. Mr. Bunnsy, however, was not full of lettuces. This did not seem fair. – From Mr. Bunnsy Has an Adventure
Book 4
Catalpa Tree
Catalpa speciosa
A catalpa can give two brown girls in western Kansas a green umbrella from the sun.
Book 5
The Girl in the Mirror
Mary Jekyll stared down at her mother’s coffin.
The titles and authors revealed:
Book 1
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
By Heather Cox Richardson
304 pages • first pub 2023
Book 2
Murder in an Irish Village (Irish Village Mystery #1)
By Carlene O'Connor
334 pages • first pub 2016.
I guess this qualifies as a cozy mystery, although some details were a bit gruesome. Thank goodness there was a pronunciation guide for the names, and a glossary in the front of the book for Irish expressions used. But still, I struggled with the names. I liked the characters. For some bizarre reason, the acknowledgements were at the beginning of the book. I probably will not read more in the series, at least not soon.
Book 3
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Discworld #28)
Terry Pratchett
256 pages • first pub 2001
YA lit. My husband and kids LOVE LOVE LOVE all books by Terry Pratchett. I have not been able to tolerate the ones for adults, but seem to like some of Pratchett’s YA lit. Even the children’s lit is quite dark. This one takes place mostly underground. Pratchett is definitely a clever writer.
Book 4
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Aimee Nezhukumatathil with Fumi Nakamura (Illustrator)
184 pages • first pub 2020
Second time reading it, this time for book club. Thoughtful and delightful. Not all sweetness and light (perhaps only recipe books should be such), but definitely more uplifting than the other 4 books I read this month.
Book 5
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
(The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #1)
By Theodora Goss
402 pages • first pub 2017.
A wild story reworking the fates of female characters from various horror/dystopian stories of the 19th century and early 20th century. I was a little bit out of my element, since the earlier stories are not in my favorite genre.
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Okay, reader, whatcha got? What’s on your reading shelf right now?
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That #4 first line is fabulous! I haven't read his YA, but color me intrigued. I finished Mel Brooks's biography All About Me and Maria Semple's "Today Will be Different" which was so good. I just started The Mirror Dance by Catriona McPherson, and I am loving it. She's a new writer for me, it's a little strange to pick up a series on book #15, but I'm doing it anyway. I applaud how you keep up the good fight. You inspire me.
ReplyDeleteI have read exactly one Pratchett, and that was Going Postal, and I thoroughly enjoyed it... but also I just really enjoyed the mythologizing of the postal service and it was a very silly book. (I have been wanting to read either Making Money, the sequel, or The Color of Magic, one of the general "starting points for Pratchett", but neither has been available at my library in ebook form. Now I'll check if his YA is available, though...)
ReplyDeleteI read Bluebird by Sharon Cameron recently for a book group, and... uh. It seems that YA lit has more (end-of-WWII, totally necessary, mostly not very graphic but still yikes) violence than when I was that age... except also I missed out on Flowers in the Attic, the legendary Not Appropriate For Kids book that so many kids in my approximate generation read, so there is that. (Bluebird is based on historical, horrific events and government choices [Project Bluebird, Operation Paperclip; the US infecting conscientious objectors with malaria may have technically been consensual, however] *but then also* it focuses on historic, hopeful and amazing people and organizations, and the balance shifts more and more towards the latter, so it fortunately ends very well and some [maybe slightly sneaky] authorial methods result in the reader feeling less bad about some early events in light of later events/personal decisions made by a character, but I was definitely... not enthusiastic... about the level of ick in the first 1/4 or so of the book.) It reminded me in some ways of A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute in terms of starting with the trauma and ending with the hope, although it has more Mystery and Secret Agents in it, and also there are alternating time periods/locations for a bunch of Bluebird, which confused some book club members who were listening to it [reading it on paper seems to lead to less ambiguity?]. The selection the month previous had been All The Light We Cannot See (again with the location/time swaps, although differently done), which was helpful to some of the book club members who knew less about WWII [despite all of them except me being 70+. But. Whatever. You know what you know, and you don't know what you don't know?].
I also read A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking recently, and loved it, but if you dislike fantasy/wizards (and if a 14 year old baking apprentice who has to save things and is frankly really *mad* that the grownups have let things get into such a state that a 14 year old has to save things... does not make up for the fantasy Stuff), then that would likely not be for you. It is probably dark-ish YA due to some of what happens, but the *themes* don't read dark/cynical to me, if that makes sense? It is more pro-social than some books, I guess, while also acknowledging a reasonable amount of reality?
Apparently I am on a YA streak? But I dropped out of my last Adult Fiction book due to it just getting to be Too Much at this particular stressful season (without being *helpful* in any way), so there is that: this is a good time for things that are helpful or hopeful and maybe not a good time for things that are neither, for me at least?
Oops, not signed in. Heidi aka Smalltown Me
ReplyDelete@Melissa If "The Mirror Dance" takes place in Scotland, I want to read it! Maybe I will see if I can start with #1 in the series.
ReplyDelete@Heidi - I read Going Postal, which was okay, but I found it hard to get past the name of the main character. I did think the portrayal of the postal service was quite clever. ... Some YA is really quite fraught - I must choose what I can stand to read right now. I read "A Wizard's Guid to Defensive Baking" in 2022 and enjoyed it. It's really the horror genre that I can't get into.... I completely understand about some adult fiction being just too much for the current times. I often have to stop reading something for that reason. My one book club ended up putting a ban on ourselves reading WWII and holocaust literature for the time being.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine it's difficult to focus on anything that isn't dire and fraught at the moment. I really liked Good Omens, but I haven't managed to read any Disc World, although I keep meaning to. I read a lot of horror, especially during spooky season - this month Bury Your Gays and Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle which are both very clever, a Scottish waterborne contagion horror and a couple of YAs. Also just finished Don Quixote for book club and recently read James by Percival Everett (about the slave from Huckleberry Finn) - utterly brilliant.
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